Words of the Dying
by Kitpup16
Summary: Luffy is a young girl who has been cursed with a fatal illness. She is to die but she has no idea when. Until that day comes, she will fight her way in life to fulfill her dream. To be the first ever Pirate Queen. -Not currently working on-
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day that was filled with laughter. A pirate ship that was boarded at a dock, were filled with smiles. They played, drank and joked around. Everyone was happy. All but a stressed out captain, who was trying to retrieve a baby from his crew.

"Come on, guys! You have to hold her with care! She's just a baby." He screamed out at them. They did not listen and continued to pass the baby around to each other. Some even threw her instead of the gentle passes like the captain hoped. The child didn't mind at all. She was happily giggling away, enjoying herself. It wasn't until the captain finally caught the child that she stopped giggling. She pouted instead since her fun was ruined. The whole crew groaned in disappointment.

"Awww, Captain. We were only having fun."

"Yeah, we like Monkey. Why do we have to give her up anyway?"

The Captain sighed. He didn't want to give up the child either but a pirate's life was too dangerous for her. She could get hurt or because of who they were, she could die. So the only option was to give her to kind people and who else but their loving Makino. She was perfect. Which is what brings them here, to Windmill Village. "You know why." He told them. "Now say goodbye to her. She's leaving."

The crew, who were before filled with smiles, was now filled with tears. They tried to say goodbye, like their captain ordered, but they couldn't utter words. All that could be made out was, "Goodbye Monkey! We will miss you!"

So the Captain of the ship left with the little bundle of joy. He walked through the village with his black coat blowing behind him. The baby was safely tucked in the crook of his right arm. He would hold her with both because it was safer but sadly, he had lost his left arm to the belly of a sea king.

He stopped in front of a bar. Though the bar was normally closed at this time, he knew that the owner was home. So he knocked on the door and waited for an answer. As he waited, the baby reached up and grabbed his shirt. He looked down at her to find her asleep. Her thumb was in her mouth as if she was dreaming of eating. He chuckled. The kid, though she was small, ate a lot for her age.

The door then opened, grabbing his attention. There was a young woman who answered. Her face was fair and motherly. Her hair was a dark green. She was skinny but just the right size for her age.

She looked up at the captain with a smile that would make any man's heart skip a beat. But the captain stayed calmed. He smiled right back. "Hello Makino, can I come in?" he asked.

"Shanks? What are you doing here? You should be in New world." She responded instead of a friendly return of hello. She was rather shocked to see him here. The last time she saw him, he had left to be a pirate when he had just became an adult. She heard that he had joined Gold Rodger's crew and that after he died; he created a crew of his own and was currently residing in New World as one of the four emperors.

Shanks, the captain, chuckled. "May I come in?" he asked again.

Her eyes went wide. She felt stupid, asking questions with him on the porch. It was just rude. "Yes, please. Sorry for my rudeness. That should have been the first thing to ask." She held the door open for him, cursing at herself the whole time.

Shanks entered the bar and took a good look around. Though he had been gone for roughly ten or fifteen years, nothing had changed. "Don't worry about it Makino. I've actually came to ask for a favor."

"A favor?" she questioned. She was closing the door behind him but she paused at his words. In all her years of knowing the man, she never heard him ask for a favor before.

Shanks ignored her questioning tone and sat down at one of the bar stools. He then finally revealed the baby who slept peacefully against his chest. Makino was speechless. All she could do was shut the door and sit down next to him.

She was silent for a long time before she finally asked, "Is he yours?"

"The baby is a 'she' and no. She's not mine. I found her at sea. She was abandoned by her mother. I wasn't sure what to do. I couldn't just leave her and she's too kind and unique to just pass her off with some random family." Shanks answered, explaining the whole thing.

Makino sat up, giving out a sigh of relief. "So you came here, hoping that I would take care of her."

Shanks smiled wide, "You will!? Oh thank you so much, Maki-"he was interrupted by a fist to the face.

"I didn't say I would or not yet! You jerk! Don't assume things!" She screamed at him in anger. He was always doing this. Pushing things to the side and expect her to clean up his mess. But this was different. This was a child and though she would hate to admit it, Shanks was right.

Shanks pouted. "You won't? But just look at this baby. She's so cute!" he then lifted up the child so that Makino could see her properly. And though she was indeed cute, she was asleep. So that meant she had a nose bubble and drool down her face. It really was a sight to behold. Makino couldn't help laugh.

Shanks smiled and put the child back in the crook of his arm. "So what do you say? Will you take care of her?"

Makino thought long and hard about it though she knew her answer already. She just wanted the captain to squirm a little, which he was. She could tell from the sweat drops he was producing.

"Okay, I will." She finally answered.

Shanks stood with a cheer which woke up the baby but she didn't mind since she was use to the loud noises that the crew had made. He then proceeded to dance around the bar with the little baby which, mind you, was really hard having only one arm. But he soon stopped thinking it to be too dangerous for the child.

Makino laughed with happiness. It had been forever since she was this happy. Only Shanks could really do that and he had been gone for all these years. Who knows, maybe this new child of hers would be like him. "But only if you name her, Shanks."

"Huh?" Shanks looked at her stupidly.

Makino smiled. "Only if you name her." She repeated.

Shanks looked at the baby and she looked back with big brown innocent eyes. She then smiled wide with a giggle and raised her hands for a hug. Shanks knew he would miss her very much. "Monkey D Luffy."

"Huh?" This time Makino stared at him stupidly.

"Monkey D Luffy. That's what I'll name her."

Makino sighed and gave herself a face palm. Maybe she shouldn't have told him to pick a name. She could've come up with a better, cuter name. But she did ask and now she was stuck with it.

"Here"

Makino looked up to see that Shanks was handing her Luffy. It wasn't until then that she noticed that Luffy had a scar under her left eye. She was going to ask how that happened when she felt Shanks bestow her with yet another gift, his straw hat.

"When she is older, give this to her would you. Tell her to take good care of it." He whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Windmill Village was once a quiet and peaceful little Island. It was so small that no pirate or bandit even wanted to attack it. There was no use because you could just see the place to know that it was poor. But then the marines decided to set up a home base there, which boosted up the economy. Over the years, more and more buildings were built and more money came in. The village became rich but no one still bothered to attack. This was because of the marines. It was too powerful to withstand an attack, so it stayed peaceful.

Since there was more money coming in, Makino found her business running great. Everyday there was more customers. Raising Luffy by herself no longer became an issue.

"…..and then he just fell asleep." Makino laughed remembering what Ace had done earlier that morning.

Luffy laughed with her. It has been 17 years since Makino had taken her in. She grew to be a beautiful young lady. She wore jean shorts with sandals and a red vest. Her hair was cut short and she still held the small scar under her left eye. On top of her head, sat the very same hat that Shanks had given Makino. In the middle of her laughter, she started to cough violently.

Makino looked at her in concern. Luffy has been coughing like that for a while now. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Luffy was unable to answer with words so she just nodded her head in reply. She waited until the coughing was finally over to look up at Makino with a smile. "I'm fine."

Makino was not fooled though. She was able to catch a glimpse at Luffy's hand before the girl wiped it on her shirt. It was covered with blood. "You are not fine, Luffy. We are going to see a doctor first thing tomorrow morning."

"But I'm fine, Makino. Really. It's only coughing." Luffy tried to get out of it. She hated seeing the doctors. Whenever she went she had to get a shot and those hurt really bad.

Despite Luffy's protests, she still went to the doctors. They did a few tests on her and though she was not given a shot, they still had to use the needle to get blood samples from her. They had to use four nurses to keep Luffy from running away.

It was about a week later that they finally found out what was wrong with Luffy. Her body was breaking down. They didn't know why or how this was happening but Luffy's body was slowly shutting down. Her organs were beginning to fail. By the rate Luffy was going, she would only have about a year at most.

When they got the news, Makino ran to her room. Luffy chased after her but when she tried to open the door, it was locked. She was about to knock and ask if they could talk but stopped when she heard crying. She lowered her raised fist.

"I'm going to close the bar tonight, Makino." Luffy told her. Makino didn't reply so Luffy left her door. She went downstairs looking toward the bar table. On it, laid the letter that they had received. She ignored it for now.

Instead of sticking around the bar, waiting for Makino to come out, she left. She walked through town, seeing all the smiles on the villager's faces. It was nice to see. Everyone was happy as they went about their day. It was like this village had no dark side to it. But it did.

Luffy stopped in the middle of the road to look up at the marine base. The marines where suppose to help the people but Luffy couldn't shake the feeling that they were bad. Not all of them. Some were really nice and truly cared about the people and justice. But there was a few in there that liked to use their advantages as marines to get what they want.

"Luffy? What are you doing here? Shouldn't the bar be open soon?" a girly voice asked.

Luffy looked over to her right to see her old friend, Coby. Coby was not a girl but rather a weak little boy. He was just barely thirteen but he was a marine himself. He was a small kid with pink hair. His voice hadn't even hit puberty yet. You could see why this guy was always picked on and pushed around by the other, much older marines.

Luffy grinned at him. "Hey Coby, the bar is closed today. Makino wasn't feeling up to it."

Coby scrunched his eyes; he always did that when she didn't call Makino her mom. Luffy wasn't really sure why she didn't either. She considered Makino her mother but it never felt right when she even tried to call her that. So she just called her by her name.

"Is she okay? I can come by later with some soup. I know that you can't cook and Makino might not feel well enough" Coby offered.

"She's not sick." Luffy laughed. "But yeah, soup sounds nice."

Coby was confused at first but he let it go and smiled. After knowing Luffy for years, he learned to just let things that involved her, go. "Okay, I will be by later then. Bye Luffy."

"Later"

Coby then left her side while Luffy waved him off. She then went back to heading to the forest. She would often go there to let off steam or to just train. She wanted to be strong. Just in case anything were to happen.

On her way there, she had to pass the base. All of the marines there were running around with rifles. They didn't normally do this. She wondered if something happened. So she stopped a running marine, "excuse me. What is going on?"

The marine looked frightened. That was odd. She knew that they were all weak, spindles guys but she never saw them look it. Usually, they were full of confidence. "It's a demon! He showed up out of nowhere. One second, we were all training and the next, we were all dying!"

The marine she was talking to was pushed forward by a guy with wavy black locks. He was tall and muscular, with freckles all over his face and tattoos on his arms. One of them read ASCE with the S crossed out. "Get moving marine! Don't scare the villagers! Find this guy and bring him to me, alive!"

"Yes sir!" the marine shouted before he went back to running around. He didn't look so scared now.

Luffy smiled at the man. "I wasn't scared, Ace. It will take a lot more than that to scare me." She told him.

The man named Ace, smiled back at her. "I know Luffy. You're tough to scare." He then proceeded to push her hat back and rub her head. Her hat didn't fall to the ground for it had a rope attached to it that hung around her neck so it would lie on her back.

"So who is this demon Ace? He sounds like a good opponent." She asked. It's been awhile since she got to have a good fight.

But before she even got to stretch, Ace shot her down. "You're not fighting Luffy."

Luffy pouted. "Awwwww! But why!?"

Ace crossed his arms to show authority. "Because, you are not a marine, you are a villager. It's time for you to start acting like a seventeen year old girl."

Luffy glared at him. She didn't want to act like all the other girls. To be weak and helpless like the princesses in her fairy tale books. She wanted to be the strong and powerful knight who saved them. She wanted to go on adventures and see the world. But no, she was stuck on this stupid island and will probably die on this island.

Luffy looked down at the ground. Dying just reminded her how little time she had left. She only had a year. A year. That was it. Then she would be gone forever.

Seeing Luffy so down made Ace feel bad. He knew that Luffy was different from the other girls, which was one of the reasons why he liked her so much. "Tell you what," he started. He placed a hand under her chin to raise it up so he could see her face. "I'll find some time to come by and we can battle like we use to. Like the good old times."

Luffy's face brightened up. She loved fighting with Ace. He was really good and she enjoyed the challenge. "Really!? That would be so cool!"

"I don't know when I can come by though. I have to settle things here at the base. Since I'm the vice commander and all."

Ace was busy, she knew that and with this guy on the loose, he was bound to be even busier. The promise alone was enough.

"Vice commander Ace! We think that we spotted the intruder towards the shore. We believe that he is trying to steal a boat to make his escape. We have soldiers there as we speak." A fellow marine told Ace with a solute.

"Good job, I will be right over there to assist." he told him and with a loud 'sir' the marine left. Ace looked back at Luffy with a sorry smile. "I have to go. See you later Luffy."

"Yeah, later."

Ace then ran to follow his men.

Luffy continued to walk towards the forest. She had been friends with Ace since they were little. Back then they wanted to be pirates and have adventures. To travel the world and see new things. They even built a tree house that they pretended was the ship and had a black flag. But that all changed. Now Ace follows his grandfather's footsteps. He became a marine and quickly climbed the ladder. She wasn't sure why he decided that the marines were the right path for him but Luffy didn't see it as hers. To this day, she still wanted to be a pirate. She wanted to get a grand ship and a strong crew. She wanted to travel across the grandline and find the legendary treasure, One Piece. But that was all dreams. How could she do all that in just a year? She would die before she even began to hope.

Luffy stopped when she reached a clearing. In the middle was a big and grand tree with the tree house that waved a black flag. It brought back fond memories. But something was wrong.

There was a big muscle guy with green hair on the floor. He was bleeding pretty badly.

Luffy ran to his side instantly. "Are you okay? Of course you're not okay. You're bleeding." She began to inspect the damage. He had three gunshot wounds in his right shoulder and two in his left.

Then out of nowhere, his hand grabbed her arm. It scared the living day lights out of her. She looked at his face. His eyes, that were once closed was now open. They were sharp and scary but Luffy was not afraid of them. "…Kuina…." He whispered before his eyes closed once more and his head fell back.

"Kuina?" she wondered out loud. She began to think on whom that might be but then realized that this was not the time for that. He needed medical attention. So she grabbed one of his arms and placed it over her shoulder to help him up. She began to walk towards the doctor's house when she realized something. This guy could be the one that the marines were searching for.

She looked towards him one more time. She should take him straight for the base and turn him in but that faint voice she heard told her that he was not a bad guy. He was innocent and right now, he needed her help. Over the years, she learned to trust in these voices. So instead of heading to the doctor or the base, she headed towards the bar.

The walk to the bar was a lot harder than Luffy thought. She picked up the first blanket that she found to put it on the guy so that he wouldn't be recognized by the marines. That blanket turned out to be white with pink flowers. This caused everyone to stare at them. Some even came up and asked questions. At one point a marine came, asking to see the guy underneath it. Luffy tried to lie, which mind you she's terrible at that, and say that he was a fellow drunk that she was taking home. The guy insisted to see who it was. Luffy was running out of ideas to keep him away. Right when he was about to pull the blanket off and see the bloody mess, another marine called the guy over for help. Luffy used this opportunity to get away.

What was even harder was getting him up the stairs. The guy was heavy and he just seemed to be getting heavier every second. He should be getting lighter, damn it! He was losing blood not gaining it!

She was able to finally climb the stairs and get him in her bed. She was panting for air on the ground. She was relieved that all that weight was finally off of her.

"Luffy? What are you doing? Who is this?"

Luffy looked over at Makino, who stood by her door, with fear. She was hoping that Makino would stay in her room for the rest of the night. But then again, she did create a lot of noise and with her current condition; she could see why Makino would leave the safety of her room to investigate. Only, Luffy was okay and she now had a strange bloody guy in her bed. What a sight to walk into.

"Ummmm, hey Makino." Luffy gave a nervous laugh. "It's not what it looks like."

Makino stared at the man before looking at Luffy. "What does it look like?" she asked.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's not."

Makino sighed and shook her head. Luffy was known to getting herself in trouble and with a bloody guy on her bed, it meant that she went beyond trouble. "Let's get this guy cleaned up. You can explain afterwards."

"Right!" Luffy agreed.

So from then on, Makino instructed Luffy of all of the supplies she would need. Luffy ran around the place to get them. She was nervous. This was the first time that they had to treat a wounded person. Sure they had wounded people at the bar due to bar fights but they always called the local doctor.

"I need you to hold him down, Luffy. He's going to be in a lot of pain and so he will try to run." Makino explained.

Luffy had already tied the man's feet and hands to the bed. All she really needed to do was hold his head. So she moved to the front and raped her arms around his neck.

"Okay, I'm going to start." Makino told her. Luffy nodded. She was ready.

As soon as Makino started, the man started to scream in pain. It was a good thing that Luffy put a cloth in his mouth because now his scream were muffled and couldn't alert the marines that were outside looking for him.

Five times. It was five times that the man had to scream out in pain. Five times that Luffy had to hear him suffer. And five times, that Makino had to dig through his skin to get the bullets out.

Once it was all over, the man slept peacefully. Luffy began to clean up the mess that was made and all the blood. Makino sat in a chair looking at her daughter.

"Now explain. Who is this man and why was he hurt?" she asked.

Luffy stopped what she was doing. "I don't know who he is. I found him in the woods. He was already hurt by then. But I think that he is the one the marines are after right now."

Makino sat up straight. "The marines? Do you know what he did?"

Luffy shook her head. "No. Just that he showed up at the base. My guess is that the marines got scared and began to attack him. I think he retaliated."

"Why did you help him, Luffy? If you knew that he was a criminal why did you bring him back here?"

Luffy looked up at Makino like it was obvious. "The voices told me that he was innocent. I had to help him."

Makino sighed. "The voices again, Luffy? The voices are not real. It's all in your head."

"They're not in my head Makino. We both know that I'm not crazy. Besides, I can't just ignore them. Remember what happened the last time I did?" Luffy would forever regret that day. She lost a very important person in her life and it all could have been prevented if she had just listened.

"Luffy, I-" Makino tried to apologize. She knew how much Luffy still hurt over her friend, Sabo's, death. He was born a nobleman from the other side of the island but had ran away to live with Ace and his grandfather Garp. Sabo was very kind towards Luffy. He was her first love. But Sabo's parents found him and took him back. They didn't hear much from him since. One night, Luffy woke up terrified. She kept saying over and over that Sabo was going to die. Makino had waved it off as a bad dream and put her back to sleep. It wasn't long before that, that they found out that Sabo had died in a fire.

Someone knocked at the door interrupting Makino's apology.

Makino looked at Luffy with confusion. "I thought you said that we were closed for the night."

"I did. I mean, we are. I'll just go check on who it is."

Luffy raced down the hallway and the stairs. She slipped and almost fell in hurry but she was able to catch herself in time. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Coby with a bowl in his hands.

"Coby? What are you doing here?" she asked.

Coby laughed. "Forget already? I said that I was going to come by and bring soup, remember?"

"Oh yeah! I forgot. I'm sorry." Luffy hit herself on the head. With all that had happened today, she completely forgot that she ran into Coby at all.

Coby then made his way inside. He headed straight for the bar table to set the bowl down. "It's okay. I forgive you."

Luffy closed the door behind him and made her way to the table. She picked up the bowl and headed to the back to put it in the fridge. "A lot has happened today. After I talked to you, I ran into Ace and he told me what happened. Were you guys able to find the guy?"

"Not yet, Luffy. We thought that he might have headed for the docks to steal a ship and escape but the guy never showed up. We at least know that he is still on the island though." Coby replied.

So the guy upstairs could be the one they were looking for after all. That would explain why they haven't found him yet. "Well I hope you guys do find him." She lied. She then made her way back to the front, where Coby sat. "Thanks again for the soup, Co-"the breath in her disappeared. She walked in to find Coby reading a letter. Not just any letter but the letter. The one they got from the doctor.

Coby looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "You're dying? When were you going to tell me?" he asked.

Luffy walked up and took the letter from him. "I wasn't. No one but me and Makino was supposed to know."

"That's not fair Luffy! You only got a year to live! At best! There is so much you still need to do. How can you just go on like nothing was happening? So what, you were just going to die and leave us? You weren't going to let us end things properly?"

"I don't want anything to change!" Luffy screamed at him. "I like the way things are right now. For it to change just because I'm dying- I don't want that. Don't treat me different!"

They were both quiet. Unsure what to say after what just happened.

Coby looked up at Luffy. "You have to tell Ace. He deserves to know." And then he left.

Luffy held back her tears. No one was supposed to know. Now everyone was going to treat her as if she was fragile. She was strong, not weak.

"Luffy!" Makino called from upstairs. "He's waking up"

Luffy rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm coming!"


End file.
